Lennar gets going on massive housing complex

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Initial plans were submitted for a development in west Forsyth County that hopes to build a housing complex of 572 houses and 124 townhomes on 443 acres.

Lennar Georgia, whose offices are in Roswell, has plans to build The Mountain Crest project, which consists of 572 single-family homes and 124 townhouses west of Cumming on 443 acres along Chamblee Gap Road and Brookfield Circle off Bethelview Road, according to a zoning application filed with Forsyth County Planning and Development.

The proposed $280 million project, to take place over multiple phases through 2022, would include a trail network to the Big Creek Greenway, according to a Development of Regional Impact filing with the state Department of Community Affairs.

The property owners include Pete Amos, a business owner and Forsyth County Board of Commission chairman, along with his wife Catherine Amos, Slate Properties and Cheatam Creek. The attorney representing the development is Josh Scoggins of Lipscomb, Johnson, Sleister, Dailey and Smith.

“It’s been in our families for over 60 years, and I can’t take care of it anymore,” said Pete Amos. “My son doesn’t want to be a farmer, so it’s time to sell.”

The development calls for 1.6 units per acre.

“I think the development has 200 acres of green space,” Amos said. “What other development has that much green space? We took the best developer out there and Lennar did a good job with it.”

As a first step, anything that has over 300 lots applied with the county must go before the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission, and nothing can be done before the comments are addressed.

This used to be a common practice with the development boom of the county in the early and mid-2000s.

This is the first development to undergo this in a long time, Amos said.

The next step is the variance the applicant is requesting, which includes a reduction in the required commercial and office use of the land developed from 25 percent to zero. The applicant is also requesting a reduction in the stream buffer, or area around a stream, from 50 feet to 25 feet.